News

The power is back in NY; the mobiles are not

How can US mobile phones provide a useful emergency location service, if the networks die as soon as there's a real emergency?

The New York Times reports that "Cellular service remained spotty throughout much of the Northeast and parts of the Midwest yesterday, despite the restoration of electrical power in many of the areas affected by Thursday's blackout, as heavy usage and continued problems at some transmitter stations continued to tax the system."

The blackout went to the heart of New Yorker fears of terror attacks, and their collective memory of the day the two towers fell, and the mobile phones ceased to work.

At that time, says the report, (free subscription cookie needed) the cellphone industry faced condemnation for its failure, and various company spokesmen promised to set up procedures for emergency backup. They failed, accused Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst for Consumers Union.

The issue isn't just New York and paranoia. One of the ongoing scandals in American cellphone provision, is the failure of the extended emergency services legislation - the E-911 service.

The plan was to ensure that every phone which placed an emergency call by dialling 911 would instantly reveal the location of the caller so that ambulance, fire and police services could rush to the victim's aid.

Phone companies have faced huge fines for failing to meet these requirements, and the CTIA is conducting a major political campaign to force the system into operation.

Briesemeister said the service disruptions during the blackout proved that cellular companies required more public oversight, according to the NYT. It quotes her saying: "It appears they didn't fulfill their promises. The industry markets cellphones as good for emergencies."

The report points out that the Mobitex two-way pager service worked normally throughout the blackout.